Various embodiments of the present invention relate to a stowable vehicle seat and, more particularly, to a stowable vehicle seat that is foldable by the rotating of a seat cushion and a seat back.
Conventionally, there has been known a seat in which—in the state in which the rear end part of a seat cushion constituting a vehicle seat is supported to be rotatable in the front and rear direction on the front side of a recess provided in a vehicle body floor, and a seat back is folded over the seat cushion—the vehicle seat can be rotated to the rear and stowed in the recess (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-82698, (“the '698 Publication”).
As shown in FIG. 14, a seat 101 described in the '698 Publication includes a seat cushion 111 installed and supported on a vehicle body floor, a seat back 112 held erect on the rear side of the seat cushion 111, a striker lock (not shown) for locking the seat cushion 111 to a striker on the vehicle body floor and supporting the seat cushion 111 on the vehicle body floor, and a reclining lock (not shown) for locking the seat back 112 to hold it in a seating posture. Further, this seat 101 includes a first operating lever 113 operated by a passenger using his/her hand to unlock the striker lock, a pullable strap 114 operated by the passenger, and a second operating lever (not shown) operated by the pulling operation of the strap 114 to unlock a reclining mechanism.
When the seat 101 is folded and stowed in a recess in the vehicle body floor, the second operating lever is operated by pulling the strap 114 to unlock the reclining lock, whereby the seat back 112 is tilted to the seat cushion 111 side. Further, the first operating lever 113 is operated by hand to unlock the striker lock, whereby the seat cushion 111 is rotated to the rear and stowed in the recess in the vehicle body floor.
In this conventional seat, a releasing mechanism (the first operating lever 113) for releasing the striker lock and a releasing mechanism (the strap 114, the second lever) for releasing the reclining lock are divided from each other. Therefore, when the seat 101 is stowed in the recess, two operations of the hand operation of the first operating lever 113 and the pulling operation of the strap 114 are needed, which presents a disadvantage in that the operability is poor, and the stowage of the seat 101 takes much time and effort. Also, since the two independent releasing mechanisms must be provided for the single seat 101, the seat manufacturing cost increases.
In addition, the reclining lock releasing operation using the strap 114 is performed by pulling the strap 114 to the rear side of the seat toward almost the horizontal direction by an operator from the back surface side of the seat 101.
On the other hand, the conventional seat 101 has a construction such that the reclining lock is released even if the strap 114 is pulled upward or downward, not toward the horizontal direction. Therefore, for example, when a passenger (e.g., a child) seated on the seat 101 looks rearward and puts out his/her hand over the seat back 112 to pull the strap 114 upward, although the passenger is in a state of being seated on the seat 101, the reclining lock is released, and the seat back 112 falls on the passenger side.